A few months ago it was suggested on facebook that this multi-day ultra race was a good idea, so naturally I entered it.
Four other local men who are part of a group of long distance walkers and runners were also doing it, Jim Fletcher and Simon Hunter I have known for a while and new friends were Ian Marshall and Graham Ellwood. After quire a bit of planning by the others and me just doing what they suggested 2 hotels were booked and transport sorted. Without these guys I simply would not have considered doing it.
My thanks to Simon for driving me to and from the start.
We were in a Premier Inn on Thursday evening, I went for Chili Con Carnie and a chocolate pudding drinking cider.
The event comprised 29 miles on day 1, 27 miles on day 2 and 28 miles on day 3. Sleeping on day 1 would be in a school hall and day 2 a leisure centre hall. The runners ran with kit so they could look after themselves in an emergencey so I invested in a Salomon pack which was amazing but expensive.
I took one pair of Mizuno Wave Harrier 3 trail shoes which performed well. Despite these being soaking wet and covered in mud from the start to the finish I remained blister free, good value shoes at about £60.
I uploaded the GPX files in to my Garmin Fenix 3 which helped quite a lot to keep me on track, I still went wrong about 6 times.
The format for the start was that the walkers went 1 hour before the slower runners and the faster runners went 2 hours after the walkers. This was great because the faster runners would start passing people after about 7 miles and all the way to the finish, this is helpful to see people in front as you can be fairly sure you are going the correct way and as people pass each other you can encourage each other.
The Ridgeway has sections of exposed chalk which is a nightmare to run on, its like ice. Several sections, some over a mile in length had to be tackled. Mud was a big feature on all 3 days with many miles sapping the energy from the legs. I don’t remember much of the race being flat, some of the climbs had to be walked (for me anyway). The entire route was covered in leaves so this made spotting obstacles like tree roots and holes difficult and areas were well rutted.
Day 1 – 29 miles
Link to garmin connect.
After race registration the start waves were bussed up to the start and off they went. The walkers at 10, the runners at 11 and the elite runners at 12. I recall that elite was defined as being able to complete day one in under 5 hours. Ian went at 10, Simon, Graham and Jim went at 11 and I went at 12.
We had showers on and off for some of the time, the weather was not to bad.
I started a bit quicker than intended but soon got sensible (well after 11 miles I did lol). I was not paying much attention to my garmin and when it beeped at 10 miles I looked at it, I was amazed how far I had gone, I expected it to say 6 miles.
At about 15 miles I put my right foot down a hole and sprained my right ankle, after a few painful limps I decided to keep going. This gave me quite a lot of trouble for the next 2 days.
At about 24 miles I ran caught up with Simon and a fella called Alan caught me up, I got in to a bit of a race with Alan over the next 2 days.
The finish for day 1 was about a mile off the Ridgeway and involved running on roads to the school we were sleeping in, I had my head torch on now and I was being chased by someone, its difficult to up the pace to 6 minute miles when you have run a marathon but i tried for a few hundred meters, he passed me and I said “great finish”, he relied “I am not in the race”.
At the finish the shoes were left at the front of the school and we were sent to get showered and cleaned up, I picked a shower that did not work very well. As everyone finished we ate in the school canteen, a chicken dinner which was ok.
Team #Doncaster went to the pub for a bit which was good.
No one got much sleep in the hall, lights out at 10pm and back on at 05:45am.
Day 2 – 27 miles
Garmin connect link to day 2
Stiff legs,, sore ankle how can we run another over marathon distance????
Porridge for breakfast, i don’t like porridge and school porridge is horrible but I was a good boy and ate it all. The forcast was for rain all day and 40 mph wind in to our faces, this was correct.
Nice and steady start today, near the back of my wave, After a couple of miles the legs started working.
I think we had a long section of chalk to run on this day, I recall this was on some long descents (all the climbing and you had to take the descents with care) and lots of muddy sections down by the River Thames, quite a section on roads which was mainly climbing (not steep enough to walk).
The miles and time were flying past, its quite surprising really. I finished quite strong managing to catch up to Simon Hunter on the Finish Line. We were bused from the finish to a sports center.
A decent shower and we set up our sports hall sleeping area. Lots of hanging about, chilling out before food was served at 7pm. I had a walk with Jim Fletcher in to the town where we had a sandwich mid afternoon, this helped to ease the legs off.
In the evening we listened to a couple of experienced ultra runners who were quite motivational, lights out at 10pm and lights on at 5:45.
Day 3 – 28 miles
Garmin connect link day 3
Stiff legs,, sore ankle how can we run another over marathon distance???? A sense of deja vu.
Cereal and pastries for breakfast, lots of discussion about how bad all our legs felt.
On with the wet muddy shoes and bussed off the to the start.
It was remembrance Sunday and all the runners had 2 minutes silence at the start.
At 9am we were off and I started near the back taking it steady, gradually picking up the pace. The wind got up and at times was nearly blowing us over.
At the first check point my left little toe was hurting so I put a plaster on it, no blister thankfully.
From about 6 miles I ran with Alan, it was all tough going but we ran all the way on day 3, no walking on hills. Conditions got very bad for the second half with driving rain and gale force winds (all on our faces) and dense fog in the last 6 miles.
The last 2 miles were on roads with a steep descent, Alan must have run a 6 minute mile, my right ankle was close to exploding and I had to slow it down. I would usually love a down hill finish.
About 400m before the finish I caught Jim and Simon, I was quite emotional (as was everyone) at the finish.
A great sense of achievement for everyone.
The finish was at a hotel which is where we spent the evening which was great, the five of us had a lovely meal and I had an early night.
Day 4
A fantastic breakfast, everything you wanted and as much of it as you could 
eat.
The cars were located 84 miles away which was a problem so we all got in a black cab with a massive amount of luggage and 90 minutes later we were back at the start.
Thanks again to Simon for driving me home.
I was delighted to finish in 9th place overall (this takes the 3 days in to account).
Thanks for all the advice that was given by our team to me, both practical and mental.
Training wise, specifically for this event I just did my normal training which included 1 long run of 20 miles.
